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THE RAHALL PLAYBOOK: One of the most senior Democrats in the House has a plan to win in territory hostile to the president and his party’s environmental views: Talk up his transportation service, tout money he’s hauled home and make it clear he doesn’t agree with President Barack Obama on everything. Nick Rahall is even playing up the possibility that he could be T&I chairman in his bid to defeat an underfunded Rick Snuffer, who Rahall already beat in 2004. But Snuffer has a couple years in the state's House of Delegates under his belt, including work on the transportation committee, and Young Guns NRCC status, so Republicans are bullish on knocking off Rahall.

Rahall says he’s proven he has worked successfully on transportation in the majority or minority. “My seniority on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has produced highly positive results for my district from one end to the other,” he told MT shortly before Congress peaced out for recess. Rahall’s also got nearly $1 million in the bank, recently hired a campaign manager and started buying up ad time. Despite the fact that NRCC and Snuffer say they have a path to victory, fellow delegation member and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller says otherwise: “Nick Rahall, if he tried, couldn’t lose,” Rockefeller told MT. More from Burgess on how Rahall keeps winning in West Virginia: http://politico.pro/NEmZxx

WATER WAY UNDER THE BRIDGE: Seventy percent of the earth’s surface might be water, but most of the transportation attention still goes to the land and the skies above. But trouble is brewing in the overlooked water world. Thanks to record droughts, some rivers are seeing major problems as they simply don’t have enough water to move ships. Almost 100 vessels were delayed as an 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, which had been closed periodically for nearly two weeks, was shuttered again Monday, the Coast Guard said (AP: http://bit.ly/QTRYkf).

Stateside: Burgess was recently in Austin, where the Colorado River is a central part of life. In an adventure up to Lake Travis, it was plain just how bad the drought in Texas is — the deep water lake, created by damming the Colorado, was about a third of its normal 60-foot depth, according to locals. NPR’s got a nice wrap about the low levels and a recent photo of the comparatively shallow lake. http://n.pr/TSmOO3

Worldwide: Transport guru Mort Downey wrote in to say that it’s a global problem — and offered a stunning first-hand account. Downey said he was stuck on a cruise ship on the Danube River and that the water is so low that he could see unexploded ordinances from World War II. A Bulgarian official said the low water means ships can’t carry enough goods to make a profit, according to the Sofia News Agency (http://bit.ly/TSlBX6).

POLL — NYC LIKES BIKE LANES: Good news for cyclist acceptance. After lawsuits and plenty of motorist complaints, it looks like NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign to add hundreds of miles of bike lanes to the Big Apple is catching on. Sixty-six percent of those polled by The New York Times rated the lanes as a good idea, while 27 percent said it’s a bad idea, mostly because those polled think bike lanes hinder car traffic. MT sees a further bike upside: 40 percent of those polled aren’t aware of the city’s rollout of bike share, which has revolutionized cycling in Washington. And the topper: City DOT data shows bike commuting hit another high in 2011. NYT: http://nyti.ms/PBh9cF; WNYC: http://wny.cc/QXlqpr

But can they do better? Sarah Goodyear writing for The Atlantic thinks so, advocating for more separated lanes. Both New York and D.C. have prominent protected lanes — which truly are a job to pedal in — but cyclists want more. Goodyear notes an experiment where Solo cups were placed alongside a bike lane’s paint stripe. The result was a true difference in driver behavior. “Physical barriers, even small ones, have a greater effect on driver behavior than painted lines.” http://bit.ly/MJu1j1

BOOM: Work has been suspended at the 72nd St. site, part of New York’s Second Ave. subway project, after an underground explosion broke windows above. Luckily, nobody was injured. N.Y. Daily News has some crazy pictures (http://nydn.us/PTxzAx) and the N.Y. Times brings the full story, including MTA head Joseph Lhota’s statement (http://nyti.ms/NEnszC).

A WILLOWY WEDNESDAY. Thanks for reading POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and lows in the 50s. If it moves, it's news. Burgess is off for the rest of the week and Monday, so send Adam all your love/hate mail until Tuesday: asnider@politico.com and @AdamKSnider. More news: @POLITICOPro and @Morning_Transpo.

PRO GOES TO THE CONVENTIONS: We’re sending Kathy to Tampa and Adam to Charlotte for the party conventions. If you know of any transportation events or VIPs we should talk to, have a story idea or just a good beer bar recommendation, email kwolfe@politico.com for the RNC and asnider@politico.com for the DNC.

Speaking of the conventions: America’s Natural Gas Alliance will announce today that it is providing 12 compressed natural gas shuttle buses for the RNC in Tampa next week and the DNC in Charlotte the following week. “We’re delighted that these 12 natural gas vehicles — what we call ‘the Clean Dozen’ — will be part of our convention,” RNC official William Harris said. “Energy independence is critical to Mitt Romney’s vision of a better future for all Americans, which is what this convention is all about.”

ON THE SCENE: The NTSB is investigating a train derailment in Ellicott City, Md., that resulted in the deaths of two people. Twenty-one of the CSX freight train’s 80 cars tumbled over, spilling coal in the heart of the city’s historic district, crushing cars and killing two 19-year-old women from the area. “If you can picture train cars on their side on top of automobiles with big piles of coal, that's the scene that we have,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman told WTOP (http://bit.ly/TSiXAP). NTSB officials said at day’s end that there was no obvious cause and that the operators heard or felt nothing odd before the derailment. WAMU: http://bit.ly/NEoR9z

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MOVING ON: In a late-night Monday session, the California state Senate approved an amended bill that will allow a 30-year extension of the half-cent Measure R transportation tax to go before L.A. County voters this fall. The Assembly has to again pass the bill with amendments, and we hear sponsor Mike Feuer plans to initiate that process as early as Thursday. Then it can go to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

U.S. AUTOS WATCHING JAPAN: As the administration weighs whether to include Japan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S. automakers are worried about the impacts a trade treaty would bring. A new CAR report finds 90,000 U.S. jobs could be on the line. The reasons are twofold: Increased imports would displace U.S. production and depreciation of the yen would exacerbate the problem. Read the report: http://bit.ly/PtXiOR

‘Easy out’: American Automotive Policy Council President Matt Blunt, whose group opposes Japan’s entry, said it would give the country “an easy out of its severe overcapacity problem.” Japan needs to the deal with the surplus without hurting the U.S. auto industry, Blunt told reporters Tuesday. “Only a substantial restructuring of the Japanese auto industry” will lead to true free trade, he said.

MAILBAG — Delay CAFE: House oversight Republicans, coming off their report pointing to flaws in the CAFE rulemaking process, are now asking OIRA to reject the fuel economy standard and send it back to DOT and EPA. The letter, which barely runs onto a fifth page, sets what MT is pretty sure is a record with an amazing 34 footnotes. Check out the letter from Chairman Darrell Issa and Reps. Jim Jordan and Mike Kelly: http://bit.ly/TSqVtG

EXPLAINER: Why can’t commuter trains from Maryland go through D.C. to Virginia? We in the D.C. area have pretty good transportation, including two well-used commuter rail lines in MARC and VRE, which are oft-pilloried for not running on weekends. But they also don’t run through the city, so if you live in Baltimore but work in Alexandria, your commute on MARC will also involve a transfer to Metro rather than a one-seat ride. Why? The main problem is platform heights: MARC uses low and high platforms and VRE uses only low. GGW: http://bit.ly/PAETxj

WEALTHY TRANSPO LAWMAKERS: Everyone on Tuesday was talking about The Hill’s 50 wealthiest lawmakers list for a few minutes in between Todd Akin media hits. Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller clocks in at sixth-wealthiest, at $81.1 million, while two T&I-ers cracked the listings: Richard Hanna was at No. 24 ($13.7 million) and Aviation panel Chairman Tom Petri clocked in at $9.5 million. Here’s the list: http://bit.ly/NDXvvZ

MT POLL — How do you get around on vacay? It’s that time of the year when the city slows down and everyone tries to satisfy their traveling jones. But we wonder: What do you do when you get there: Rent a car or use transit? MT is a cheap son of a gun, so both halves have ridden transit whenever possible. But some times and in some places, cars are way easier. What about you? Polls close Sunday. http://poll.fm/3updy

LIGHTSQUARED: Wireless broadband company LightSquared might be bankrupt, but its lead backer thinks it will come out stronger than ever, our Pro Tech colleague Tony Romm reports. Why do MT readers care, you ask? The FAA is working to replace the current radar-based air traffic control system with NextGen, a GPS-enabled network that is safer and more efficient. But there were concerns that LightSquared’s spectrum would interfere with airplane communications. Pros get more from Romm: http://politico.pro/PtZhmq

Shake-up: Doug Smith will serve as LightSquared's new CEO and chairman of the board, the company announced today. Previously LightSquared's co-chief operating officer, Smith is sounding optimistic about the company's future.

THE COUNTDOWN: DOT funding runs out in 39 days, passenger rail policy in 405 days, surface transportation policy in 770 days and FAA policy in 1,135 days. There are 76 days before the general election and the 113th Congress convenes in 137 days.

CABOOSE — Alarming: Burgess was not happy to read that his ‘98 Honda Civic is the second most-stolen car model and year in the entire country. Seriously, what are the chances? Only ‘94 Honda Accords are stolen more frequently. MoneyWatch: http://cbsn.ws/PABAGC